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# The Book of Beasts

#### by Timothy Ferguson

Copyright Timothy Ferguson 1996, 1997, 1998. This material derives from the work of other authors, whose rights are held by Atlas Games. Derivative material is used with permission. This work may be used freely for personal non-profit use, provided that the author is properly credited.

Prologue (3k)
Chapter One: Designing Beasts (61k)
Chapter Two: New Rules for Familiars (2k)
Chapter Three: Familiars and Saga Development (42k)
Chapter Four: Popular Familiars (103k)
Chapter Five: Quadrapeda (84k)
Chapter Six: Birds (84k)
Chapter Seven: Serpents (62k)
Chapter Eight: Worms (9k)
Chapter Nine: Fish (13k)
Appendix One: Humans as Familiars (12k)
Appendix Two: Familiars of the Realms (70k)
Appendix Three: Forms, Effects and Sizes (11k)
Bibliography (6k)

## Preface

The Book of Beasts is a large net-project designed to fill the hole left in the Ars Magica line by the absence of the Medieval Bestiary. It was originally submitted as a book about Familiars, then resubmitted as a more general work, but failed to achieve publication. Sections of the Familiars manuscript have been included in this version as two appendicies, since they are so very different from other source material available online.

Parts of this manuscript are incomplete. The second chapter has been removed, since it is to be published, in some form, in Mythic Perspectives magazine.

As a non-official work, you should check with your storyguide before using the variant rules found within. Although it never made it up to par for publication, I deeply enjoyed the process of creating this work, and hope that you'll enjoy reading it. If you have need of any clarifications, please contact me.

The author would like to thank all those who volunteered time as playtesters for the two versions of this work, and those who are hosting the manuscript on their web sites.

## Acknowledgements

#### Contributors

Kenji Ulstein: The ideas that became the bond qualities Twilight Loss, Suppress Flaws, Added Size, Frog's Mouth, Ring Magic, Talking Telepathy, Shared Forms, Shared Personal Effects, Shared Touch Range, Cross-fire, Humanoid, Shared Sight Range, Single Life Force, Translocation, Flight From Azrael, Warped Bodies, Teleport, Biological Clock, Jealous Pack, Roving, Twilight Points, Size, Temperamental Bond, Wild, Blatant Gift, Undependable Bond, Size, Schism of the Mind, Transferred Linguistic Abilities, Superiority of Familiar, Jealousy, The Magus Reforged and many of the tinctures. Kenji's just a brilliant guy to have around when writer's block sets in. (If you can't find these, it means you haven't yet bought the issue of Mythic Perspectives containing the variant rules for bonding familiars. Just by the headings you can see what handy ideas they are, so head off to the MP page and check the price on back issues.)

Joshua Landrum: For general hole-patching.

#### Pre-submission Editing: Sarah E. B. Wishnevsky

#### Special Thanks To: Damelon Kimbrough

Damelon runs a site on the internet for "Ars Magica" and sent me one of his old copies of ArM3 when I couldn't get my hands on a rulebook. I promised myself I'd write articles for his webpage, by way of thanks, but the thousand words I wanted to write about how to play a cat realistically started to snowball uncontrollably and this book is how the process ended.

Damelon's webpage has now evolved into Mythic Perspectives magazine and Chapter Two of this book is only available through this wonderful magazine. Chapter Two is really useful stuff.

#### Playtesting

Soraya Ghiasi, Matthew Seidl, Nathan Gardner, David Czeck, Ken Stern, Warner Losh, Adrienne Kantor, Rita Czeck

Kenji Ulstein and Gang: Kenji, my notes on who was in your team were lost. Please provide them to me again. My apologies to all concerned.

Spanish Team: Javier Montalvo Espinosa, Javier Abad, Francisco Javier Rodriguez, Fernando Perez Lara, Jordi Gordon, Felix Fernandez, David Fernandez, Javier Rodriguez, Javier Ezequiel

Other playtesters: Jerome Darmont, Joshu Landrum, Mike Gearman, Reuel Miller, Serge Delonville, William Jensen

## Index

#### Prologue

#### Chapter One: Designing Beasts

- Designing Beasts
  - The Roles of Animals In Storytelling
    - Plot Putty
    - Provider of Mental State
    - Comic Relief
    - Guardian
    - Treasure
    - Obstacle
    - Provider of Puzzle
    - Paragon of Virtue or Vice
    - Reflection of Greater Problem
    - Reflection of Character's Private Traits
    - Creature of a Realm other than Magical
    - Clue
    - Companion
    - Familiars
    - Mentor
    - Enemy
    - Mark
    - Motivator of Events
    - Distraction
    - Tool
    - Predecessor
    - Touchstone
    - Inverted Power Relationship
    - Social Key
    - Time bomb
    - Story Axis
  - Powers and Abilities of Beasts
    - Virtue
    - Accidents of Form
    - Might
    - Characteristics
    - Characteristics for creatures you are designing
    - Abilities
    - Ferocity
  - Combat
  - Beast Creation Statistics
    - Intimidation
    - Size and Higher Ground
    - Movement and Ranges
  - Movement Examples
    - Combat Between Humans and Animals
    - Why are some animals so hard to kill?
    - Special Abilities
    - Combat skills
  - Weaknesses
  - Appearance

#### Chapter Two: New Rules for Familiars

- The Search

- Alternatives to the Search
  - Magical creation of animals
    - Summoning of the Beloved Companion: CrAn(InMe) 80 Ritual
  - Magical adaptation of animals
  - The Alchemical Alteration of Animals
  - Creating halflings
    - Preparation

- The First Season: The season of Aurae

- The Second Season: The Season of cords
  - Important Formulae for this Season
  - Alternative Metals
  - List of alternate cords
    - The Four Usual Metals
    - Gold
    - Silver
    - Bronze
    - Copper
    - The Unusual Metals
    - Iron
    - Lead
  - Tinctures
    - Gold
    - Silver
    - Bronze
    - Copper
    - Iron
    - Lead
    - Mercury
  - Non-metallic Tinctures
    - Carbuncle (Red Tincture)
    - Cobalt (Blue Tincture)
    - Coral Tincture
    - Marble (White tincture)
    - Opal (Opalised tincture or milky tincture)
    - Pearl (Translucent Tincture)
    - Quartz (Transparent Tincture)
    - Sulphur (Yellow Tincture)
    - Umber (Brown Tincture)
    - Whetstone (colour varies)

- The Third Season: The Resonances
  - Qualities
  - General Virtues
    - Shared Virtues
    - New Powers
    - Twilight Loss
    - Virtues
    - Suppress Flaws
  - +5
    - Attunement
    - Awareness
    - Extended Bond
    - Frog's Mouth
    - Linked Targets
    - Material Bond
    - Mental Bond
    - Primary Power
    - Ring Magic
    - Shared Ability
    - Shared Languages
    - Shared Protection
    - Shared Emotions
    - Talking Telepathy
  - +10
    - Mental Communication
    - Secondary Power
    - Shared Forms
    - Shared Personal Effects
    - Overlapping Resistance
    - Shared "Touch" Range
    - Shared Speech
    - Sympathetic Emotions
    - Transferred Fatigue
    - Unlimited Bond
  - +15
    - Cross-fire
    - Humanoid
    - Shapechange
    - Shared Magic
    - Shared "Sight" Range
    - Shared Wounds
    - Single Life Force
  - +20
    - Shared Perceptions
    - Traded Minds
  - +25
    - Translocation
    - Flight from Azrael
    - Warped Bodies
  - +30
    - Teleport
  - General Flaws
    - Biological Clock
    - Exchange Flaws
    - Jealous Pack
    - Roving
    - Twilight Points
  - -5
    - Independence
    - Limited Bond
    - Size
    - Sympathetic Fatigue
    - Sympathetic Pain
    - Temperamental Bond
  - -10
    - At Odds
    - Blatant Gift
    - Undependable Bond
    - Size
    - Tight Bond
    - Sympathetic Wounds
    - Superiority of Familiar
    - Wild
  - -15
    - Jealousy
    - Halves of the Whole
  - -20
    - Schism of Mind
  - -25
    - Transferred Linguistic Abilities
  - -30
  - Transferred Quirks
    - Mild
    - Average
    - Severe
    - Extreme

- The Fourth Season: The Closing of the Bond, the Ending of the Ritual

- Later Seasons

- Alternative Rituals
  - Multiple Familiars
  - Refamiliarisation
  - Intergenerational Familiars

#### Chapter Three: Familiars and saga development

- Familiar Companions

- Familiar Surroundings

- Familiar Stories
  - Adventures for Familiars
    - Voyaging
    - Dominoes
    - Sociability
    - Artifice
    - Ancients
    - Familiars and Death

- Familiar Creation
  - Designing the Magus
  - Rapid Method
  - Detailed Method
    - Freebies!
  - Characteristics
    - Intelligence and Cunning
    - Presence and Communication
  - Virtues and Flaws for Familiars
    - +? Suppressible Magical Resistance
    - +1 Natural Magical Powers
    - +1 Fortunate Knack
    - +1 Invested Powers
    - +1 Mystical Might
    - +1 Magical Accident
    - +1 Chartered
    - +1 Secret Vis Source
    - +1 Speech
    - +2 Eminent Magus
    - +2 Natural Magical Power
    - +3 Magical Lineage
    - +4 Descended of Magi
    - +5 Bjornaer Cluster
    - +5 Previous Acquaintance
    - -1 Mundanity
    - -1 No Natural Power
    - -2 Novice Magus
    - -2 Cunning
    - -3 Juvenile
    - -6 No Magus
  - Skills
  - Personality Traits and Reputation

#### Chapter Four: Popular Familiars

- Cat
  - The Coat Colour Virtue
    - Coat colours
    - -3 Black
    - -2 White (blue eyes)
    - -1 White (mixed eyes)
    - -1 Black with white patch
    - 0 Moggie
    - +1 Male Tortoiseshell
    - +1 White, orange eyes
    - +2 Magical Mistake
  - Other Virtues and Flaws
    - -3 Craves Human Flesh
    - -1 Catnip Fiend
    - +1 Catnip Immune
    - +1 Create Consumption
    - +1 Muse
    - +2 British
    - +2 Poison bite
    - +5 Huge
    - +6 Reincarnation
  - Houses for Cats
  - Cat Minds
  - Cat Quirks
    - Mental Quirks
    - Claustrophobia
    - Grooming
    - Hopping
    - Hunting
    - Kittenishness
    - Marking
    - Nesting
    - Oestrus
    - Patrolling
    - Static Territories
    - Tramping
  - Physical Quirks
    - Claws
    - Deafness
    - Feet
    - Fur
    - Hearing
    - Impotence
    - Navigation
    - Serpentism
    - Sight
    - Sleep
    - Smell
    - Snoring
    - Spine
    - Sweat
    - Tail
    - Teeth
    - Vibrissae
    - Walk

- Dog
  - Irish Wolfhound Statistics
  - Fox
  - Wolf
  - Canine Virtue and Flaws
    - -3 Headless
    - -2 Burning or Shining eyes
    - -1 Inflexible Neck
    - -1 Compulsion
    - -1 Hellhound
    - +1 Empathy
    - +1 Healer
    - +1 Aphrodisiac
    - +2 Feeds on air
    - +2 Intelligence
    - +3 Theft of voice
    - +3 Lethal Howl
    - +3 Silent Movement
    - +3 Barguest
    - +4 Padfoot
    - +4 Cu Sidhe
  - Canid Minds
  - Canine Quirks
    - Mental Traits
    - Avoidance Gestures (Ignorance)
    - Barking
    - Den-building
    - Dominance
    - Execution
    - Fostering
    - Gossiping
    - Marking
    - Observing
    - Oestrus
    - Paternity
    - Patrolling
    - Possessiveness
    - Presenting
    - Puppyhood
    - Self-punishment
    - Singing
    - Status
    - Submission Gestures
    - Walking
    - Physical Traits
    - Chewing
    - Eating
    - Feet
    - Fur
    - Musculature
    - Sight
    - Smell
    - Sound
    - Tail
    - Walk

- Mustelidae (Weasels, Ferrets, Badgers, Polecats, Wolverines, Otters)
  - Lithe mustelids
  - Polecat statistics, also used for minks, stoats, martens, sables and ferrets
  - Badger Statistics
  - Wolverine Statistics
  - Beavers
  - Mustelid Virtues and Flaws
    - -7 Erminism
    - -3 Fury
    - -1 Compulsive / Oversensitive
    - -1 Compulsion
    - -1 Female (Size)
    - +2 Poisonous Bite
    - +4 Immunity to snake venom
  - Mustelid Minds
  - Mustelid Quirks
    - All Mustelids, especially the Ferret, Mink and Weasel
    - Aggressiveness
    - Body
    - Claws
    - Fur
    - Hearing
    - Hunting
    - Impulsiveness
    - Inquisitiveness
    - Jumpiness
    - Marking
    - Nocturnal
    - Restlessness
    - Secretive
    - Single-mindedness
    - Sight
    - Smell
    - Snacking
    - Sweat
    - Teeth
    - Trickery
    - Walk
    - Serpentism
    - Strength
    - Tail
  - Badger Traits
    - Architecture
    - Hands and Feet
    - Mock Hibernation
    - Sedateness
    - Skin
  - Beaver Quirks
    - Dam-building
    - Escape tunnels
    - Moat building
    - Monogamy
    - Slapping
    - Timber working
  - Glutton (Wolverine) Traits
    - Aggression
    - Caching
    - Endurance
    - Hyperactivity
    - Strength
  - Otter Traits
    - Fondling
    - Grooming
    - Playfulness
    - Webbing
  - Marten Traits
    - Climbing
    - Hydrophobia
    - Sunbathing
  - Polecat Traits
  - Ferret Traits
    - Confinement
    - Breeding
    - Playfulness
    - Sleep Cycle
    - Sleeping
    - Weight Loss

#### Chapter Five: Quadrapeda

- Ant
- Antelope
- Apes
- Ass and Onager
- Bear
- Boars
- Bonnacon
- Bulls, Bullocks, Oxen, Buffaloes
- Camel
- Crocodile
- Elephant
- Elk (Parandus)
- Frog
- Goat
- Griffin
- Hare
- Hedgehog
- Horse
- Hyena
- Ibex
- Leucrota/Crocote
- Lion
- Lynx
- Manticore
- Mole
- Mouse
- Pards, Panthers, Leopards and Cameleon-pards
- Salamander
- Sheep
- Stag (Deer)
- Tiger
- Unicorn
- Yale (Eale)

#### Chapter Six: Birds

- General Notes for Playing Birds

- Bird Minds
  - Mental Quirks
    - Aesthetics
    - Dancing
    - Fiddling
    - Landmarks
    - Memory
    - Mirroring
    - Nesting
    - Preening
    - Tools
    - Training
    - Weather Sense
  - Physical Quirks
    - Alertness
    - Beak
    - Body Language
    - Brain structure
    - Claws
    - Crest
    - Eyes
    - Feathers
    - Feet
    - Hearing
    - Metabolism
    - Migrating
    - Singing
    - Smell
    - Tongue
  - Quirks for Species
    - Cocks' Hope
    - Cranes' Encampment
    - Crows' Intuitions
    - Coots' Comforts
    - Doves' Placidity
    - (Turtle) doves' devotion
    - Ducks' Aquatic Nature
    - Geese's Alertness
    - Peacock Appearance
    - Herons' Hydrophobia
    - Hoopee
    - Jackdaws' Talkativeness
    - Magpies' Nattering
    - Nightingale's Parenting
    - Owls' Photophobia
    - Parrots' Mimicry
    - Partridges' Perversions
    - Ravens' Parenting
    - Sparrow's Size
    - Sparrowhawks' Parenting
    - Swans' Vanity
    - Swallows' Insight
    - Vulturine Pathogenesis

- Barnacles
- Bat
- Bee
- Caladrius
- Cinnomolgus
- Cock
- Coot
- Crane
- Crow
- Dove and Turtle Dove
- Eagle
  - Traded virtues
- Goose
- Halcyon
- Hawk
- Harz
- Heron
- Hoopee
- Ibis
- Jackdaw
- Kite
- Magpie
- Nightingale
- Osprey
- Ostrich
- Owl
- Parrot
- Partridge
- Peacock
- Pelican
- Phoenix
  - Modern myths
- Quail
- Raven
- Sparrow
- Stork
- Swallow
- Swan
- Vulture
- Water-ouzel

#### Chapter Seven: Serpents

- Mystical History of Serpentkind

- Serpent Minds
  - Quirks for Reptiles
    - Bluffing
    - Body temperature
    - Deaf
    - Dentition
    - Eyes
    - Flexible spine
    - Forked tongue
    - Hairlessness
    - Hiss-and-spit
    - Jaw structure
    - Leathery skin
    - Limbs
    - Neck
    - Osteoderms
    - Pit organs
    - Poisonous Saliva
    - Reproductive habits
    - Spectacles
    - Sunbathing
    - Sprung maxilla
    - Teeth
    - Unscented
  - Virtues and Flaws of Reptiles
    - -3 Compulsion: Homicidal
    - -3 Tiny size
    - -2 Slow
    - -2 Terror: Naked Men
    - -1 Oversensitive: Ropes
    - -1 Gnawing Children
    - -1 Must spew up venom before drinking
    - -1 Obstinance
    - -1 Weakness: Milk
    - -1 Weakness: Music
    - +? Hydra
    - +? Magical poison
    - +1 Glowing Eyes
    - +1 Guard
    - +1 Horns
    - +1 Spits poison
    - +3 Immunity to Cold
    - +3 Mammalian
    - +5 Rejuvenation
  - Skills

- Dragons
  - The Substances of Dragonkind
- Dracotam
- Varieties of Dragon
  - Norse Wyrms
  - Drakes
  - The Great Wyrm of the Pyrenees
  - Igack, The Firedrake of Pitsdim
  - Lesser serpents: Terminology

- Amphisbaena

- Asps (Ypnalis, Dispa, Situla Cerastes, Emorrosis, Prester)
  - Ypnalis (General Asp Statistics)
  - Dispa and Situla
  - Cerastes
  - Emorrosis
  - Prester

- Basilisk
- Boas
- Iaculus
- Idrus
- Scitalis
- Sepus
- Siren
- Snake
- Viper

#### Chapter Eight: Worms

- Well Worms
  - The Lambton Worm
  - The Song of the Lambton Worm

#### Chapter Nine: Fish

- Aspidochelon
- Dolphin
- Hydra
  - Lernese Hydra
  - Polyp (Giant Coelenterate)
- Serra
- Whale

#### Appendix One: Humans as Familiars

- Bonding of Spouses
- The Familiar Human in Play
- Other Human Bonds
  - True Friendship
  - Proteges and Mentors
  - Linking to the Self

#### Appendix Two: Familiars of the Realms

- Genius Loci, Lares & Penates - Spirits of Place
  - Spells to influence magical creatures

- House Spirits (Lares)
  - Rules for Bonding with House Spirits
  - Detecting House Spirits
  - Enhancing House Spirits

- Genii Loci
  - Generating Genii Loci Characters
    - Range
    - Aura
  - Being Bound By a Spirit of Place
    - Characteristics
    - Virtues and Flaws
    - Abilities
  - Movement
  - Bonding to Avatars
  - Creating Avatars
  - Enhancing Genii
  - Training from a House Spirit or Genius
  - Camilli

- Modern Revivals
  - Bonding to Elementals
    - Generating Elementals
  - Summoning and Binding Elementals

- Magical creation of animals

- Magical adaptation of animals
  - The Alchemical Alteration of animals
  - Creating halflings
  - Human Bodies
    - Homunculus Statistics

- Ghosts
  - Generating Ghostly Familiars
  - The Powers of Ghosts

- Binding the Fae

- Demons, how they are bound

- Heavenly Familiars
  - Bond Score

#### Appendix Three: Forms, Effects and Sizes

- Form and Effect table additions
- Size Table

#### Bibliography

- Bestiaries
- Species in detail
- Reference books